Anne B. Davis obit

Ann B. Davis dies: Actress, 88, played Alice in 'The Brady Bunch'

She was not on the list

By REUTERS June 2, 2014

Comic actress Ann B. Davis, who played the devoted housekeeper Alice on the television sitcom "The Brady Bunch" and won two Emmy awards as the forever-single secretary Schultzy on "The Bob Cummings Show," died on Sunday at age 88.

Davis fell and hit her head on Saturday morning, CNN reported, citing a close friend of Davis, Bishop William Frey.

 

She suffered a subdural hematoma and never regained consciousness, Frey told CNN.

Davis' agent Robert Malcolm told The New York Times that Davis, who lived in San Antonio, Texas, had been in excellent health and had used a walker.

Davis' character helped keep a large, blended family functioning on "The Brady Bunch" by offering advice and wisecracks to busy parents and frantic kids, or simply by making meatloaf for eight. She was known for her light blue housekeeper's uniform with a white apron.

Behind the scenes, Davis provided a model of acting professionalism to the show's six child actors, who on occasion were driven more by hormones and mischief than reason.

The "Brady Bunch" was among the first U.S. television shows to focus on a non-traditional family. Robert Reed's character, architect Mike Brady, was a widowed father of three boys. Florence Henderson's character Carol Brady was a single mother - the show was vague as to why - who had three daughters. They get married in the first episode in September 1969.

 

The series made its debut amid cultural tumult in the United States but remained invariably cheery and avoided controversy during its five seasons on the ABC network. It ran during a TV era populated with caustic sitcoms such as "All in the Family," "Maude" and "Sanford and Son."

 

In 1994, Davis wrote of the wholesome "The Brady Bunch": "Wouldn't we all love to have belonged to a perfect family, with brothers and sisters to lean on and where every problem is solved in 23-1/2 minutes?"

After the cancellation of the original series in 1974, she appeared on later incarnations of the show, including "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour" (1976-1977), "The Brady Brides" (1981), "A Very Brady Christmas" (1988) and "The Bradys" (1990). She also made a cameo appearance in "The Brady Bunch Movie," a successful 1995 big-screen spoof of the series.

She wrote "Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook" in 1994.

Davis already was a well-known TV actress when she landed the "Brady Bunch" role of Alice Nelson. She thrived as Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz on "The Bob Cummings Show," which ran from 1955 to 1959.

 

Her character was a single secretary who had a crush on her boss - a bachelor photographer played by Cummings. She won Emmy awards for her role in 1958 and 1959 and was also nominated in 1956 and 1957.

 

Davis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 following the success of the series.

She was born in 1926 in Schenectady, New York, with a twin sister named Harriet. In the 1970s, she stepped away from show business to join a religious community, occasionally returning for roles in the various "Brady Bunch" projects. She never married.

The Brady Bunch, created by Sherwood Schwartz, originally aired from September 1969 to March 1974 on ABC, then spent a year in syndication. The cast got together for several reunion films and spinoff series over the years.

It’s the story of Mike Brady (Robert Reed), a widowed architect with three sons — Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight) and Bobby (Mike Lookinland) — who marries Carol Ann Martin (Florence Henderson), who has three daughters: Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb) and Cindy (Susan Olsen). (Carol’s marital past was never addressed on the show.) On the show Alice had an ongoing romantic attachment to the butcher Sam (Allan Melvin).

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1955      A Man Called Peter          Ruby Coleman   Uncredited (The Story of Peter Marshall)

1956      The Best Things in Life Are Free Hattie Stewart   Uncredited

1960      Pepe      Ann B. "Schultzy" Davis

1961      All Hands on Deck            Nobby  

1961      Lover Come Back              Millie    

1994      Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult                Alice Nelson       Credited as playing herself

1995      The Brady Bunch Movie                 Trucker (Shultzy)             

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1953–1953          Jukebox Jury      Herself/Judge    Musical series

1956      Matinee Theater              Peg Miller            Episode: "Belong to Me"

1956      Lux Video Theatre            Miss Killicat         Episode: "The Wayward Saint"

1955–1959          The Bob Cummings Show              Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz      153 episodes

1960      Wagon Train       Mrs. Foster         Episode: "The Countess Baranof Story"

1962      The New Breed Elizabeth MacBaine         Episode: "Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?"

1962      Here's Hollywood             Herself Celebrity interview program

1963      McKeever and the Colonel           Sgt. Gruber         Episode: "Too Many Sergeants"

1963      The Keefe Brasselle Show             Herself 3 appearances on summer replacement series for The Garry Moore Show

1964      Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre                Matha   Episode: "Wake Up, Darling"

1965–1966          The John Forsythe Show               Miss Wilson        29 episodes

1966      The Pruitts of Southampton        Mrs. Derwin       Episode: "Phyllis Takes a Letter"

1968      Insight   Pat         Episode: "The Late Great God"

1970/1973          Love, American Style                      2 episodes

1971      Big Fish, Little Fish           Hilda Rose           Movie

1973      The World of Sid & Marty Krofft at the Hollywood Bowl Audience member           Uncredited

1969–1974          The Brady Bunch              Alice Nelson / Cousin Emma        117 episodes

1974      Only with Married Men Mola      Movie; uncredited

1976–1977          The Brady Bunch Hour   Alice Nelson       9 episodes

1980      The Love Boat    Agnes    Episode: "Invisible Maniac/September Song/Peekaboo"

1981      The Brady Girls Get Married        Alice Nelson       Movie

1981      The Brady Brides              6 episodes

1983      Rosie     Jill Po     Episode: "Waitresses in Line"

1988      A Very Brady Christmas Movie

1989      Day by Day          Episode: "A Very Brady Episode"

1990      The Bradys          4 episodes

1991      Hi Honey, I'm Home!      Episode: "SRP"

1993      Bradymania: A Very Brady Special             Herself TV special

1997      Something So Right         Maxine Episode: "Something About Inter-Ex-Spousal Relations"

2004      The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special           Herself TV special

Stage

Year       Title       Role       Venue   Notes

1960      Once Upon a Mattress   Princess Winnifred                         

1972–1973          No, No, Nanette                                              

1992–1996          Crazy for You      Mother                                

1996      Arsenic and Old Lace       Abby Brewster